Fifty Georgia Colleges, Universities to Increase GI Financial Aid

Nearly 50 colleges and universities in Georgia have signed on to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs program to improve financial aid for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The 45 campuses include Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Mercer University in Macon and Savannah College of Art and Design. The institutions have agreed to pay up to half of the tuition, housing and textbook expenses for veterans who sign up under the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The program is part of the new GI Bill passed last year, offering veterans the most significant expansion of educational benefits since the original GI Bill in 1944. The VA expects nearly half a million veterans to participate in the coming year.

On the Net: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov

(Associated Press)

Fewer Homeless, But Not Enough Shelter

A federal report shows Georgia's large homeless population shrank between 2007 and 2008, but found there was not enough shelter space available statewide and more than half of Georgia's homeless go unsheltered. The 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Thursday, found there were 19,095 homeless people living in Georgia in 2008. That's down from 19,639 in 2007. The report also found Georgia was one of only eight states where the majority of homeless were unsheltered. It found 54 percent of Georgia's homeless were typically unsheltered, but said warm weather may encourage homeless to sleep outdoors. According to the report, there are 13,936 beds available for homeless statewide.

(Associated Press)

Georgia Gwinnett College Opens First Dorm

Georgia's newest college is getting into the student housing business. Georgia Gwinnett College broke ground Tuesday on its first dorm, which is expected to be ready for students in the fall of 2010.

College officials hope the apartment-style residence hall will help transform the 3-year-old institution from a commuter campus to a more traditional atmosphere. The first phase will open with about 1,000 beds. Eventually, the $102 million complex will house 2,500 students.

Georgia Gwinnett opened its doors in 2006 in Atlanta's northern suburbs with just 100 students. The college expects nearly 3,000 students to enroll this fall. It is the state's first public four-year college in more than a century.

(AP)

Food Charity Settles Lawsuit

A newspaper is reporting that a multimillion-dollar food charity under FBI investigation for possible financial misdeeds has settled a lawsuit with two dissident board members.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday that the lawsuit against Angel Food Ministries in Walton County Superior Court concluded with an exchange of money and promises to make changes to protect the charity's finances.

The suit filed by board members Craig Atnip and David Prather accused Angel Food founder Joe Wingo and his family of enriching themselves by at least $2.7 million from the charity and directing $600,000 from Angel Food to their church as a housing allowance.

(The Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Expos Aim To Spur Georgia Business, Housing Industries

Navigating a tough economy in the world of small business and the housing industry is the focus of a series of expos running through Saturday.

The events are designed as a type of one-stop shopping for entrepreneurs, realtors and bankers, among others. Organized by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the aim is to connect those groups with the latest information and tools from the local, state, and federal levels.

Yancey Gulley is with Athens Technical College, one of several schools hosting the expos:

"There will be booths from small business, government to government assistance, and housing assistance. And then throughout the day, we’ll have workshops going on as well."

Athens Tech, along with tech schools in Atlanta and Calhoun are staging expos Saturday from 9-to-5. Events are wrapping-up today in Warner Robins, Hinesville, and Albany.

Hunstein to Replace Sears on Top Court

Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein has been unanimously elected as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. She will assume the position July 1, 2009, succeeding Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who is stepping down from the Court June 30.

The Court has also unanimously elected Justice George H. Carley to become the new Presiding Justice.

Former Gov. Zell Miller – who appointed both Justices to the Supreme Court – will swear them into their new positions in a ceremony in the state Supreme Court courtroom on July 1, 2009.

The state's Chief Justice presides over Georgia's judicial branch, just as the governor heads the executive branch of government, and House and Senate leaders lead the legislative branch. The Presiding Justice serves in her absence. The Chief Justice is the main spokesperson for the Court, as well as for the entire judiciary. She presides over oral arguments and runs the meetings in which the Court makes its decisions, although she has only one vote as does each of the Justices.

The Chief Justice, who is eligible to serve two two-year terms, also chairs the Georgia Judicial Council, which governs all levels of the state's courts.

Justice Hunstein was a DeKalb County Superior Court Judge when Gov. Miller tapped her in 1992 to become the second woman in history to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. She was the first woman to serve as President of the Council of Superior Court Judges. In 1989, then Chief Justice Thomas Marshall appointed her to chair the Georgia Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System. Gov. Miller and later Gov. Roy Barnes appointed her three times to chair the state's commission on child support guidelines in 1993, 1998 and 2001. She has served on the advisory board of several organizations, including the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, and she currently chairs the Georgia Commission on Access and Fairness.

Justice Hunstein has received many honors, including an honorary LL.D. from Stetson University College of Law where she received her juris doctor in 1976. She has three grown children and a grandson.

Justice Carley served in the Georgia House of Representatives and spent 14 years on the Georgia Court of Appeals, including as Chief Judge, before Gov. Miller appointed him to the state's high court in 1993. He received his LL.B. degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1962 and practiced law in Decatur where he was a partner in the firm of McCurdy & Candler. He also served as the attorney for the Housing Authority of the City of Decatur and as a Special Assistant Attorney General handling eminent domain cases for the state Department of Transportation. Since 1988, Justice Carley has been actively involved with the Georgia and National High School Mock Trial Competitions.

Source: GA Supreme Court Communications

ATL Demolishes Last of Large Public Housing

During the Great Depression, Atlanta was the first city to build public housing. Today, it took a step towards becoming the first major city to completely eliminate it. A demolition crew began tearing down the city’s last large public housing project called Bowen Homes.

When Bowen was created 45 years ago, it started as a model development, but later become an enclave of poverty, drugs and crime.

Renee Glover, the president of the Atlanta Housing Authority, says, "On reflection, there's no question that this is the right direction, and Atlanta, the families will be the better for it."

Bowen's 900 former residents have found new housing. Most use a voucher system where they pay the same as they did when they lived here.

Today’s demolition is symbolic of what’s happening with public housing in major cities across the state. It’s a national effort to get rid of large stacks of rows upon rows of the 1960’s buildings and to create mixed income developments in their place. Georgia is one of the pioneers in this effort. Atlanta wants to be the first to do away with all of them by 2010.

State Home Tax Credit Kicks In

Buyers of single-family homes in Georgia can get up to $1,800 back from the state if they close the deal in the next six months. The credit wont come in full, however; it must be split over three years, starting with this tax year, meaning home buyers wouldn't see the benefit until next year.

This state incentive is different from the federal one thats worth $8,000 and only available for first-time home buyers.

The state tax credit is intended to help the sagging housing market, hit hard by the recession, wrought with foreclosures. With 11 thousand foreclosure filings in last month alone, Georgia remains among the top ten in the nation.

The home tax credit expires the last day of November.

Historic Public Housing Demolition

Atlanta Housing Authority officials have set a date to begin demolishing the last of the city's large public housing developments. Officials will begin the first phase of the demolition of Bowen Homes next week. Officials will mark the occasion with a ceremony on June 3. The destruction is part of a city plan to erase concentrated poverty by demolishing what officials say have become crime-infested public housing developments. Atlanta was the first city in the nation to create public housing during the Great Depression. The city is on course to become, in 2010, the first to have eliminated all of its large public housing projects.

(Associated Press)

Historic Gift to Habitat for Humanity

The housing market may be sputtering, but Habitat for Humanity International is getting a $100 million jolt. The nonprofit group tells The Associated Press the gift from J. Ronald Terwilliger will help it build 60,000 homes worldwide. It's the largest individual contribution in Habitat's history. Terwilliger, an Atlanta-based developer, says he hopes it will offer the world's neediest more access to decent, affordable homes. He says he also wanted to "inspire others to make the commitment to support affordable housing." The gift is one of the largest in recent years to a group devoted to social services, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. A center official called it "remarkable."

(Associated Press)

Security Bank Now Under Regulatory Oversight

The Federal Reserve is keeping a close watch on Georgia's fourth largest bank as the government tries to prevent another closure.
Macon-based Security Bank is already under a cease and desist order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The just imposed regulatory oversight means the bank will have to submit a plan to the FDIC within the next 60 days on how to strengthen its position. In the last eighteen months the bank lost 226-million dollars.
Security bank's Tom Woodbery says their challenges are not unique, but have been with them for several months.

"The challenges are quality of loans, capital stability and liquidity and those three areas are problems that a number of banks in Georgia and the Southeast are facing because of the economic crisis we're in today."

In March auditors expressed quote, "substantial doubt" about the bank's ability to stay in business. Security Bank moved into the Atlanta market during the height of the housing boom.

More Counties Eligible for Disaster Aid

Eight additional Georgia counties have been granted federal disaster status, making them eligible for aid to help them repair damage from storms that began in late March. Those counties include Ben Hill, Brantley, Camden, Lee, Mcintosh, Montgomery, Seminole and Tattnall counties. Applicants in Ben Hill, Camden, Montgomery and Tattnall counties will be eligible for individual assistance, which can include grants to help pay for temporary housing, home repairs and other disaster-related expenses. Brantley, Lee, Mcintosh and Seminole counties are eligible for public assistance, which makes federal money available to local governments and nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities.

(Associated Press)

Muscogee Cty Chief Deputy in Contempt of Court

The chief deputy of the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office has been held in contempt of court and recieved a $50 fine. Sheriff John Darr said Chief Deputy John Fitzpatrick was cited by Muscogee County Superior Court Judge Doug Pullen after a courtroom dispute. Darr said Pullen became upset over the inconvenience caused by the county's practice of sending inmates to the state system once they're sentenced and bringing them back months later on various charges. An order must be sent to the Department of Corrections to get the inmates back to Columbus. Darr said an inmate whose name was on the docket Thursday wasn't in court because the request order wasn't received. He said the practice saves Columbus money on feeding, housing and medical costs and no changes are planned.

(Associated Press)

Several Georgia Counties Declared Disaster Areas

President Barack Obama has declared 18Georgia counties disaster areas following March storms. The action makes federal dollars available for people in South Georgia. In March severe storms struck the area causing tornado's, heavy rains, and eventually severe flooding.
The money can be used to help home and business owners make repairs, pay for temporary housing, and other things not covered by insurance. Some of the money will come in the form of grants, while other dollars will be available through low interest loans.
Farmers will also be eligible for help. Many were in the midst of planting when the storms hit and will have to replant their fields. The counties in the declaration area include; Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Coffee, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Echols, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Pierce, Tift, Ware, Wheeler, and Worth.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will work with residents, helping them to apply for help.

Macon receiving federal housing money

Federal dollars will help Macon tear down blighted homes and get foreclosed properties off the market.
In 2008 Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. Four-billion dollars of the money was doled out to states hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.
Cities like Augusta, Atlanta, Columbus and Savannah qualified to receive part of those funds, but Macon did not, according to the Director of Neighborhood Stabilization for the City of Macon, Jesse Gerwig-Moore.

"The state received in total from HUD about 155-million. About half of that amount, around 74-million or so, went directly to the entitlement communities who already received community development block grant funds and that's where Macon fell below the 2-million dollar threshold."

The city remained undeterred and applied for a 4-million dollar grant from HUD. They were approved this week. The city will use the money to tear down blighted homes and provide down payment assistance to those who purchase foreclosed properties.

Top Army Brass Tell Hinesville To Get Ready

All over Southeast Georgia, you can find housing developments and subdivisions that never quite materialized as planned. Call them the empty shelves of the recession. Today, officials from the U.S. Army came to Hinesville to tell local officials and business leaders that their shelves will be stocked.

"I'm telling you, it's happening," says Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, commander of the Ft. Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division. "It's coming."

It was two years ago when the Army announced plans to add another Brigade Combat Team to Ft. Stewart. That means 3,400 new soldiers and about 7,000 new civilians. Yesterday and today, top Army officials, 3-star generals, came to Ft. Stewart to get progress and share details about the expansion.

Maj. Gen. Cucolo also wanted to use the presense of high-ranking Army officials to reassure locals. "One of the outcomes of today for me was to just double check that the 5th Brigade Combat Team is on track to happen as we have been saying it's going to happen," says Cucolo. "And it is."

The reassurance could be important to banks, who are anxious about lending, and builders, who are anxious about building, in the current economic downturn. Army officials say, only 20% of the new combat team's soldiers will be housed on post.

So, the new soldiers will need off-post housing. And then there are the new schools to build, the new roads to fund and the new doctors to attract.

The base already is adding new on-post facilities, including day care centers, recreation centers and shops. "I mean, by the first of October, we will have executed or be in the middle of executing almost a half a billion dollars worth of construction," says Maj. Gen. Cucolo. "I know people are looking at the economy across the nation. In Southeast Georgia, this is a growth industry."

About 70% of the new brigade should be in place by October.

"I think what you've seen today is a commitment from the Army leadership with the decisions that have been made and the money that's into this institution as we speak," says Dave Tindall, the Army's top Southeast region infrastructure official. "And what you're going to see in the years forthcoming, you're going to see a lot of that place to maintain it as an enduring installation."

The arrival Fifth Brigade Combat Team, to be complete by 2011, won't be the first time coastal Georgia has boomed with the military. Area businesses and surrounding communities experience a boost every time 3rd Infantry Division soldiers return from overseas.

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Homebuyers Could Get Thousands in Tax Breaks

State Senators passed a bill Thursday that's designed to get the real estate market moving in Georgia.

The measure would give taxpayers who buy an existing home up to a $3,600 credit. But the incentive would only apply for six months after becoming law.

Republican Senator Chip Pearson says he wants to lure people into the housing market to kick-start Georgia's ailing economy.

"It's really a double-edged sword in that if we do not stabilize the housing prices and values and then start a recovery in those values, we will continue to stay in this depressed situation that we're in..."

But opponents of the bill say tax break will do more harm than good to the state's budget. And Senate leaders are already worried that by 2010, revenues could be in the hole by $3.5 billion.

Atlanta United Way Nears Fundraising Goal

United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta says it has raised almost all of the $82 million the charitable organization set out to raise through its current fundraising campaign.

So far, the organization says it has $80.5 million toward the goal, which was announced six months ago.

The organization's new theme urges would-be donors to "live united" by showing their concern for less fortunate neighbors through cash and volunteering.

The organization recently has focused on placing homeless in supportive housing and expanding a statewide hot line for the impoverished.

(AP)

FBI Raid on Food Charity Raises Questions

The FBI last month raided the headquarters of Angel Food Ministries in Monroe, Ga. Earlier lawsuits allege founders paid selves, sons excessive amounts. (Photo: John Bazemore / AP)

For more than a decade, Angel Food Ministries seemed like a godsend for families who purchased its low-cost food boxes and the churches that shared millions in revenue for distributing the goods.

It became an economic juggernaut in the faith community, employing hundreds, feeding thousands a month and pouring $19 million into its network of more than 5,000 host churches in 35 states.

Now, lawsuits coupled with an FBI raid at the group's headquarters has raised accusations of financial mismanagement at the nonprofit. The raid and ensuing FBI investigation have left congregations and church leaders weighing whether to cut their ties to the high-profile charity after the reported disclosure that six-figure salaries were paid to its founders.

"We get signed up and I start hearing this," said the Rev. Chad Massey, whose Unadilla First Baptist Church in central Georgia planned to place its first Angel Food order this month. "It's kind of hard to know what to do."

FBI officials haven't disclosed the nature of the investigation surrounding the ministry.

Angel Food has acknowledged that a grand jury investigation is looking into what it called "alleged financial irregularities" involving unspecified individuals — but not the ministry itself.

Meanwhile, Angel Food Ministries board members and former employees have filed lawsuits accusing Angel Food leadership of using the non-denominational nonprofit as a moneymaking venture.

The Rev. Joseph Wingo and wife Linda founded the ministry in 1994 to help 34 families hurt by plant closings in the manufacturing town of Monroe, about 45 miles east of Atlanta.

Since then, Angel Food Ministries has grown to hundreds of workers supplying food for anti-poverty programs at more than 5,000 churches spanning several denominations. There are 473 distribution centers listed in Georgia and more than 1,400 concentrated in Texas, Missouri, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

All told, the ministry says it serves more than 500,000 families a month. It has no plans to interrupt food delivery.

Families typically order multi-meal boxes of meatballs, ham and other staples from monthly menus, spending roughly $30 for an estimated $65 worth of groceries, Angel Food says. Later, they collect boxes at churches that are rewarded with at least $1 for every box delivered.

At Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Conyers, administrative assistant Glenda Evans said leaders are sticking by Angel Food. "Hopefully it gets worked out," Evans said.

In 2006, the ministry reported revenue of $96 million dollars and $17 million in expenses. Tax records from that year show the Wingos and two of their sons earned a combined total in excess of $2.1 million for leading the ministry, up from just less than a combined $323,000 a year earlier.

Their combined salaries dipped to $501,472 in 2007, records showed.

Wingo did not respond to repeated AP requests to be interviewed.

In December, the salaries prompted a national Christian charity watchdog group to flag Angel Food as one of 30 ministries donors should avoid.

"One family for one year making ... more than the president of the United States of America is just kind of outrageous," said Rodney Pitzer, a top official at Wall Watchers. "That should be enough for donors to be concerned."

Two Angel Food board members alleged in a lawsuit last month that the Wingos enriched themselves by at least $2.7 million and sought to bar the Wingos from their Monroe headquarters. The board members accused the Wingos of directing $600,000 from Angel Food to their church as a "housing allowance."

In a settlement reached behind closed doors Friday, the Wingos agreed to an audit and to stopping questionable financial practices — like using corporate credit cards for personal expenses — in lieu of being barred from the premises, according to Thomas Rogers, an attorney representing the board members.

Attorneys representing the Wingos would not reveal further details of the settlement, and the Wingos themselves declined to comment.

A statement on Angel Food's Web site called the lawsuit an effort "by two directors who are interested in removing the founders of the ministry — Pastors Joe and Linda Wingo — only to install themselves in the founders place. This is a power grab."

In an earlier statement, Angel Food portrayed the FBI's Feb. 11 search as part of an "investigation of an individual or individuals connected to the organization, and not regarding the ministry itself."

In disputing the suit, Angel Food said it has been "a model corporate citizen," donating $5.2 million to more than 5,000 communities in 2008.

Luke Erickson, a pastor at Mountain Christian Church near Baltimore, Md., said church leaders like himself received an explanation from the ministry for the high salaries.

"They've invested a lot in it ... there was some kind of compensation given back to them by Angel Food and it was reflected in a large salary in one year," Erickson said.

Finances of prominent ministries have come under scrutiny of late, including a Senate probe begun last year of claims of extravagant spending by some leaders of Christian broadcast ministries nationwide.

The FBI involvement in the Angel Food case could imply far more than just overpaid staff, said Dean Zerbe, former senior counsel with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Though not involved with the Angel Food case, Zerbe said, "If you have ... the FBI knocking on your door of a charity, you've got issues beyond just paying a fellow too much."

FBI officials had no comment Wednesday, and no charges have been filed.

In Georgia, Donna Foster attends Emmanuel Praise — the Wingos' church — and her son works at Angel Food. Recently, "Pastor Joe found out I was unemployed and he sent me a box of food."

She blamed honest mistakes for any perceived financial mix-ups.

"There are some people you can tell if they're faking it," Foster said. "You can tell that these people are real."

(AP)

Baldwin County To Open New Jail

Baldwin County is scheduled to open its new jail today. The $13 million facility replaces a 33-year-old jail that was plagued by heating and electrical problems and a leaky roof.

The new facility increases by more than two-thirds the space for inmates--housing nearly 340. It also adds larger floor space, a courtroom, and additional administrative offices. 15 new corrections officers have been hired to staff the jail.